06 Oct
Last weekend, September 28 and 29, the first ESAC introduction weekend started early in the morning. With an alarm clock that went off at 6 am, the fresh, new members of the Eindhoven climbing club started their day full of adventure. When at half past seven everyone, almost everyone, arrived at the ESSC, the packing of the cars began. Luckily it all fit, but it was nice and tight to sit next to a crash mat with two bags and a cake on your lap. Around 10 o'clock we arrived at the destination in Avalonia in Germany. Loaded with all the necessary stuff, we entered the climbing area. When we arrived at the first rockery, we were almost ready to start. After less than an hour of climbing, the first forearms were already sour, but we kept going. The rocks were challenging, but everyone had their own victories. The routes in terms of difficulty varied from "good to do" to "I will not even try". The highlight of Saturday was meeting the one and only Daniel Pohl, the founder of the climbing area.
Around 5 o'clock we left for the campsite after an intensive day of bouldering. The tents were set up in the rain while the rest started their dinner. When everything was ready we all enjoyed the delicious pasta (unfortunately without salt, but luckily we had enough salty peanuts). The evening was ushered in and since the weather was still not really good a lot disappeared into the big tipi. After some chatter and nice games, we suddenly had a nice idea. Not much further on was a party tent with cozy, partying, German camping-goers. Of course we could not resist to pay a visit there. Around 12 PM we closed the evening with a few people after having a nice party at the campsite.
The next morning the weather started early and happily dry with a delicious egg for breakfast. We broke down the tents again and quickly returned to the climbing area for day two. The weather was good for us, as rain was predicted the day before. This would certainly welcome us, but luckily later in the day than planned. We visited a different part of the area than the day before and started bouldering again. Of course it was a bit less easy than Saturday, since there was already some muscle pain involved. Around 2 o'clock it started to rain unfortunately, but as luck by accident we were just climbing at a cave. The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed ourselves by taking refuge in the cave and playing games. When it was late enough we left for the pizzeria where we would eat our last supper. Around 8 o'clock we were back at the SSC in Eindhoven after a great, intensive and pleasant weekend!